Dorian Hartwood

There’s something filthy and holy about a slice of pizza. When that cheese stretches like the dusk of evening, when the crust crackles under your teeth — that’s not just food. That’s humanity tasting itself.

To me, life isn’t about chasing enlightenment or sculpting destinies. It’s about one perfect Friday night: warm dough, molten cheese, a cold beer sweating on the table, and someone across from you who matters. A...

It started in the car. I was driving through my neighborhood — same route, same stop signs, same song on the radio I always skip. But that day, I didn’t skip it. That day, I let it play. And that song cracked me open. One line in, I pulled over and wept like something inside me had finally collapsed. Not a Hollywood cry. A body-shaking, steering-wheel-thumping, full-bellied scream into the silence.

It was the first sound I’d made in weeks that wasn’t pretending I was fine.

And something happened...

You had it all planned out. You showed up early, stayed late, and climbed every rung of that damn corporate ladder, thinking it would lead somewhere safe, until it collapsed beneath you. Getting fired isn’t just losing a job; it’s a gut punch from reality. It’s being blindsided by the cold truth that loyalty isn’t always mutual, and corporate promises are as solid as smoke. Here’s the raw truth no one tells you about losing the job you thought defined you.

I remember walking into my boss’s office...

I was raised on pavement. My earliest memories have the texture of concrete. I don’t remember the first time I saw a wildflower, but I remember dodging broken glass on cracked sidewalks. I don’t remember watching birds in the sky, but I remember helicopters hovering over rooftops...

How Snap Judgments, Social Media, and Silence Are Tearing Us Apart — And What It Takes to Reconnect.

You ever notice how much easier it is to hate someone than to understand them? Seriously. One glimpse of someone doing something stupid, awkward, or just plain different, and boom — our minds fill in the blanks, constructing an entire narrative built on assumptions. And social media? That shit throws gasoline on this fire.

Let me tell you a quick story. For years, I was the “weird quiet guy.” Peopl...